Reviews

Hold Your Own: Poems by Kae Tempest

august_ambrosia's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective

4.5

absolutely amazing loved this so much. had me open mouth gaping at some pages. definitely want to listen to the audiobook i said a few poems to myself and they're all so well crafted and almost lyrical........ so vivid too <3

haoddinary's review against another edition

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reflective relaxing fast-paced

3.25

nerdybookies's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

Sublime - and queering the sublime!

kipepeo's review against another edition

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challenging emotional fast-paced

4.0

Utterly lovely. Tiresias’s myth is incredible and it was tackled brilliantly in this book. I don’t often read poetry with metre and rhyme anymore, but wow this blew me away. 

lydia_arvidsson's review against another edition

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4.5

reread<3

khloud96's review

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4.0

This collection of poems tells the tale of Tiresias, when he was punished and became a woman for years.
The poet brilliantly talks about her stories through out the tale. Although I'm not a big fan of the myths, but the poems are brilliant and powerful.

Some quotes I liked:

“How many yous will you carry,
Weeping and desperate to marry?
How many yous will you churn out?
Turn out the light for the night.
She has burned out but she’ll be alright.
She is coming up.
Child of her time.”

"And you've got a soul worth living for"

"The worst thing that can happen to words is that they go unsaid"

mythology_nerd333's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense medium-paced

3.0

larissakoedood's review against another edition

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fast-paced

kenzielireads's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

hilbohaggins's review against another edition

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5.0

This was a fantastic collection of poetry written with so much eloquence and fluidity. The poems are centered around a modernized version of Tiresias, who was a famous prophet in Ancient Greek mythology. To put it in as few words as possible: Tiresias was a man who got himself into some trouble and was then cursed to spend part of his life as a woman. The book is split into four sections: Childhood, Womanhood, Manhood, and Blind Prophet. The last grouping was my favorite of the four; it really touched on some heavy truths of mankind. Regardless, the whole book contained deeply emotional poetry that I think everyone can connect to in one way or another and it's written in a way that is so universal.

(Also the physical copy of the book is just stunning)